The Moneyhack initiative looks to produce future bankers, lawyers, accountants, business consultants and insurance specialists, in a way that anticipates and teaches the skills that students will need to succeed in the future as technology continues to advance.

These include the “soft skills” that will become so crucial to thriving businesses, as automation begins to refocus many roles away from repetitive tasks and towards delivering great service and new revenue.

The initiative’s seeks to help close the skills gap in our economy for years to come, after our recent study found that the main reason behind 81% of businesses not implementing AI is a shortage of talent in their workforce for building automation processes.

Rainbird was a supporting organisation alongside firms including Aviva, Barclays and Mills & Reeve.

Raphael Markellos, Professor of Finance at UEA, created and coordinated the programme and said: “Educational programmes in schools struggle to keep up with technological developments, particularly in the financial and professional services sector. Our initiative bridges this gap.”

James Duez, Rainbird CEO and longtime advocate of transparent automation to address the skills gap, said: “While a large part of addressing this problem lies with educators, it is hard for them to keep up with the pace of change. It is equally necessary that those behind these new technologies ensure they are transparent and designed to be understood by a greater proportion of the population.”

Read the full press release here.